Game Preview: WVU vs. Youngstown State

West Virginia (1-0) will look to start the season 2-0 for the second consecutive year when the Mountaineers welcome FCS opponent Youngstown State (1-0) to Morgantown Saturday afternoon.

The Mountaineers are coming off a 26-11 season opening win over Missouri where the offense rolled up 494 total yards including a total of 241 on the ground. On the defensive side, West Virginia defended over a total of 100 plays and held the Tigers to 462 yards of total offense with most of that coming late.

Senior quarterback Skyler Howard left the game for a portion in the second quarter but still managed to 23-35 passes for 253-yards, while redshirt senior Rushel Shell and junior Justin Crawford combined for 191 total yards between the running back duo.

This will be the first meeting between West Virginia and Youngstown State since 1938, a 27-6 victory by the Mountaineers, and will be only the second meeting all-time between the two programs. The Penguins have a history of success winning four FCS national championships and a total of 21 games against FBS opponents since 1981, including a victory over Pittsburgh during the 2012 campaign.

Youngstown State is coached by Bo Pelini, who is in his second season at the program after finishing 5-6 last year. The former Nebraska head coach is renowned as a defensive expert and has a career coaching record of 73-33 over the course of his ten-year career.

The Penguins will feature a ball-control offensive attack predicated on the run with junior quarterback Ricky Davis triggering the offensive scheme. In the opener against Duquesne, a 42-10 win,, Davis threw for 187 yards and a trio of touchdowns while rushing for a total of 74 more.

Joining Davis in the backfield is senior Jody Webb who rushed for 96 yards, senior Marti Ruiz who rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown and finally sophomore Tevin McCaster who tallied 107 yards and a score. In total the Penguins rushed for a total of 394 yards in their season opener.

The leading receiver for the Penguins is junior Darrien Townsend, who hauled in three passes for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Dukes.

The defense for Youngstown State surrendered only 34 rushing yards in the season opener and features the school’s all-time sack leader in senior defensive end Derek Rivers, who has a total of 27 during his career. A pre-season all-American selection, he will prove to be another difficult challenge for the West Virginia offense line after facing the deep Missouri defensive front.

In the backend, the Penguins also feature a number of players that have started multiple games with LeRoy Alexander (11 games), Jameel Smith (10 games), Eric Thompson (eight games) David Rivers (six games) and Nate Dortch (five games).

“They’re very sound. They don’t give up a ton of big plays. If you look at all their stuff from last year, they don’t give up a ton of big plays. It will be another challenge for us,” Holgorsen said.

The game will kick off at 2 p.m. inside Milan Puskar Stadium.

West Virginia Depth Chart:

OFFENSE:

QB - 3 Skyler Howard (Sr), 11 Chris Chugunov (r-Fr), 16 William Crest (r-So)

TE – 89 Rob Dowdy (r-Fr), 87 Stone Wolfley (r-Fr)

FB – 28 Elijah Wellman (r-Jr), 47 Michael Ferns (r-So)

RB – 7 Rushel Shell (r-Sr), 25 Justin Crawford (Jr), 4 Kennedy McKoy (Fr)

WR (X) - 1 Shelton Gibson (r-Jr), 12 Gary Jennings (So)

WR (Z) – 2 Ka’Raun White (Jr), 82 Devonte Mathis (r-Sr)

IR (Y) - 6 Daikiel Shorts (Sr), 5 Jovon Durante (So)

LT - 53 Colton McKivitz (r-Fr), 74 Sylvester Townes (r-Sr)

LG – 70 Tony Matteo (r-Sr), 57 Adam Pankey (r-Sr)

C - 65 Tyler Orlosky (r-Sr), 79 Matt Jones (r-Fr)

RG - 62 Kyle Bosch (r-Jr), 56 Grant Lingafelter (r-Jr)

RT - 77 Marcell Lazard (r-Jr), 73 Josh Sills (Fr)

DEFENSE:

DE - 97 Noble Nwachukwu (r-Sr), 88 Adam Shuler (r-Fr)

NT - 49 Darrien Howard (Sr), 67 Alec Shriner (r-Fr)

DE - 95 Christian Brown (r-Sr), 92 Jon Lewis (r-Jr)

SAM – 30 Justin Arndt (r-Sr), 5 Xavier Preston (Jr)

MIKE - 17 Al-Rasheed Benton (r-Sr), 44 Hodari Christian (r-Jr)

WILL – 27 Sean Walters (r-Sr), 28 David Long (r-Fr)

CB – 1 Antonio Crawford (r-Sr), 14 Nana Kyeremeh (r-Sr)

FS – 2 Jeremy Tyler (Sr), 16 Toyous Avery (r-So)

SPUR – 8 Kyzir White (Jr), 18 Marvin Gross, Jr. (r-Jr)

BS - 22 Jarrod Harper (r-Sr), 12 Khairi Shariff (r-Sr)

CB – 13 Rasul Douglas (r-Sr), 24 Maurice Fleming (r-Sr)

SPECIAL TEAMS:

PK - 48 Mike Molina (r-Jr), 86 Josh Lambert (r-Sr)

P - 15 Billy Kinney (r-So), 80 Jonn Young (Fr)

LS -46 Nick Meadows (r-Jr), 43 R.C. Brunstetter (r-So)

H – 15 Billy Kinney (r-So), 80 Jonn Young (Fr)

KO - 48 Mike Molina (r-Jr), 15 Billy Kinney (r-So)

PR - 12 Gary Jennings (So)

KR - 1 Shelton Gibson (r-Jr), 12 Gary Jennings (So)

Notes:

--Coaching assignments for this season include: DC/LB Tony Gibson (field), OC/TE-FB Joe Wickline (press box), CB Blue Adams (field), WR Tyron Carrier (field), S Matt Caponi (field), OL Ron Crook (field), D/ST Mark Scott (press box), RB JaJuan Seider (field), DL Bruce Tall (field)

--West Virginia is 163-61-4 at home since Mountaineer Field opened in 1980.

--West Virginia holds an all-time mark of 16-0 against FCS competition, including a 5-0 record under head coach Dana Holgorsen. The Mountaineers are 1-0 against Youngstown State. The Penguins are 1-9 in their past ten games against power five opponents being outscored 37-13. The lone win was over Pittsburgh.

--The 2016 roster consists of 120 players from 15 different states.

--There are 34 juniors and seniors on the West Virginia depth chart.

--The West Virginia offensive rosters includes 13 players that have started at least one game. The offensive roster consists of 19 true freshmen, eight redshirt freshmen, three sophomores, seven redshirt sophomores, one junior, eight redshirt juniors, two seniors and six redshirt seniors.

--Breaking down the West Virginia offensive numbers for the season the Mountaineers have run a total of 85 plays, 48 on the ground and 37 through the air. The rushing game has totaled 241 yards for an average of 5 yards per carry and two touchdowns. The passing attack has totaled 253 yards and an average of 11 yards per completion.

--The West Viginia offense has gained nine first downs via the run and 11 via the pass.

--The West Virginia defensive roster includes 6 players that have started at least one game. The West Virginia defensive rosters includes 20 true freshmen, 10 redshirt freshmen, one sophomore, three redshirt sophomores, nine juniors, four redshirt juniors, two seniors and 10 redshirt seniors.

--The West Virginia defense hasn’t allowed an opponent to complete better than 50-percent of its third down attempts in 26 straight games, the longest streak in the Big 12 Conference.

--West Virginia has 14 senior starters on its depth chart and 20 seniors on its two deep, the most in the Big 12 Conference.

--The Mountaineers are No. 14 all-time in college football winning percentage.

--Since 2000, West Virginia is 101-13 when scoring 30 or more points in a contest.

Injuries/Suspensions: West Virginia junior free safety Dravon Askew-Henry is out for the season with an ACL injury same can be said for redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste. Freshman linebacker Brendan Ferns is also out for the season with an ACL injury. Freshman cornerback Jake Long is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Redshirt sophomore Jaleel Fields is out for the season with a knee injury. Redshirt junior Xavier Pegues is out until late October with a shoulder injury.

As for suspensions, West Virginia will be without the services of redshirt senior kicker Josh Lambert for the remainder of the non-conference schedule while the Mountaineers will welcome back redshirt senior left guard Adam Pankey and junior SAM linebacker Xavier Preston after their one game suspensions.

Redshirts: In the matchup with Missouri, West Virginia played true freshmen running back Kennedy McKoy, defensive end Reese Donahue, SAM linebacker Zach Sandwisch and WILL linebacker Adam Hensley. Others are expected to see snaps Saturday against the Penguins.

Points to Click:

Keep Howard up, healthy and work backups: Senior quarterback Skyler Howard was injured against Missouri with pulled ribs but returned and finished the game. It will be paramount for the Mountaineers to keep Howard healthy in this game and build a lead so he will be able to exit early and allow some of the backups the chance to get some much needed work on the field. Not giving up any sacks to an impressive Youngstown State pass rush as well as limiting opportunities in the run game with the quarterback will help aid the cause there but mostly it involved the Mountaineers establishing control early and often in this game. While Howard is in the game, he will need to continue to demonstrate the ability to effectively work in the intermediate passing game and show the consistency at the position.

Lean on the line: West Virginia rushed for a total of 241-yards and didn’t give up a sack against the deep and experienced Missouri defensive line and the group will need to rise to the challenge again against the Penguins defensive front. Youngstown State is expected to give West Virginia much of the same look with keeping their safeties back and it will be important for the Mountaineers to establish the run and win the football game up front as they did in the season opener. West Virginia did an excellent job taking advantage of what Missouri gave them in the opener and they’ll need to do the same here.

Focus up: West Virginia has never lost to an FCS program and the talent level is one that it shouldn’t happen Saturday either. Still, every year, including already this season, power five teams lose to schools at the lower level. The Mountaineers will need to come both focused and prepared and build an early lead in order to allow them to comfortably move to 17-0 all-time against FCS schools.

Score touchdowns in the red zone: West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen has said that the Mountaineers are shooting for at least a 50-percent touchdown rate in the red zone but in the season opener fell short of that goal punching the ball in only one time out of five. That was an Achilles heel for the West Virginia offense last season and will continue to keep teams in games until the Mountaineers can turn those field goals into touchdowns. Whether it’s a combination of play calling, execution or bad luck West Virginia has to convert opportunities into touchdowns and while it might not bite them this week it definitely could later into the season as the schedule toughens up.

Stay disciplined on defense: It was a different experience last week for West Virginia against an offense that had over 100 total plays. This week will be much more conventional as the Penguins will attempt to slow down the pace of the game and limit opportunities for the Mountaineers offense. Still the Penguins have explosive playmakers in an offense that will be predicated on the run and it will be important for the Mountaineers to play within the framework of the defense. Youngstown State will attempt to grind out drives by running the play clock and sucking the Mountaineers down to go over the top. With offensive possessions expected to be at a premium, staying home and reading keys will be essential.

Turnovers: This is an area that goes without saying as turnovers both avoiding them on offense as well as forcing them on the defensive side play a giant role in deciding the overall outcome of games. The Mountaineers lost the battle 3-1 last week but still managed to come out with a victory. Those aren’t winning odds over the course of a season and they must improve in that department.